McCain Tops Obama’s Viewers

The new Nielsen ratings for GOP nominee John McCain’s acceptance speech last night are out and they’re a shocker: He beat Sen Barack Obama’s record-shattering stadium speech, which drew 38.4 million, by about half a million, reaching 38.9 million.

But they seem to be different viewers. More men watched McCain (17.9 million) than Obama’s (16.2 million), while more women watched Obama’s speech (19.9 million) than McCain’s (19.2 million). McCain’s audience was also significantly whiter, 32.2 million white viewers to Obama’s 27.0 million, and not surprisingly the reverse held among African Americans, with just 3.1 million watching McCain to Obama’s 7.5 million.

It’s a shocker because McCain is an awful speaker when it comes to set speeches, and really only comes into his own with small groups. Obama is one of the best orators on the American political stage in eyars. McCain also bested Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin’s draw of 37.2 million viewers.

The intense interest in this election is driven not just by the two historic candidacies, but because this is the first wide-open race since 1952, when there was no incumbent or vice-president-in-waiting on either side. The two parties have sharply defined differences, and their new leaders would be in a position set the nation’s and their parties’ course at a critical juncture in history.